This begins a series of blog posts on our trip to the Ile de la Reunion, a French department (state) in the Indian Ocean. What a remarkable island! The entire island was created over millions of years with volcano eruptions and lava flows---one of which is still active: Piton de la Fournaise (Furnace Peak). We went all the way around this volcano and saw it from every direction; including walking and driving on the massive volcano flows that have, even over the past 20 years, enlarged the island by many hundreds of acres. Fournaise erupted as recently as January 2010, and there have been over 200 eruptions in the past 350 years. While the volcano wasn't blowing or flowing the day we were there, we could see and appreciate its mighty power by the huge boulders spewed miles from the peak and the speed and quantity of the lava when flowing on an undetermined path at 35 to 50 mph! Next up---what happened to a parish church in the lava's path . . . stay tuned.
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